ANSA news

Macedonia: court orders passport of ex-prime minister seized

Tue, 04/07/2017 - 07:49

(ANSA) - TRIESTE - A Macedonian court has ordered that
passports be seized from former Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski
and four other officials in his conservative party, including
two former cabinet ministers, in connection with a major
wiretapping scandal.
The order was announced Monday after Gruevski and the former
ministers of the interior and transportation, Gordana Jankuloska
and Mile Janakieski, were indicted for allegedly violating
election campaign finance rules and related offenses in probe
into illegal wiretapping. In the scandal, the telephone
conversations of about 20,000 people were illegally recorded.
Gruevski denies wrongdoing and blames foreign spies.
The scandal triggered a political crisis and an election last
December that ended the 10-year rule of Gruevski's conservative
VMRO-DPMNE party.
More than 100 people have been indicted so far in the
wiretapping investigation.

In brief

Founded in 1989, the CEI is a regional intergovernmental forum committed to supporting European integration through cooperation among its Member States.
It combines multilateral diplomacy and project management, both as donor and recipient, while bridging European macro-regions.